[MD] Value and the Individual

[Platt Holden]

> [Platt]
> I have no idea of what your talking about. I guess you've lost it -- again.
> 
> [Arlo]
> No short-term memory?
> 
> [Khaled had said]
> So a voucher is enough for the public school left in operation, say 
> $5,000. A private school will take the voucher as part of the total 
> payment ( it could be 10% or 90%) the rest has to be paid by the parents.
> 
> [Platt replied]
> Or a private school can take the voucher as full payment
> 
> [Arlo repeats]
> But I am surprised that you support a system of progressive tuition! 
> Stating outright that private schools accept the voucher as "payment 
> in full" towards tuition, even if it doesn't cover the full cost! 
> Wow! So wealthy parents should pay more tuition for the same school 
> as poor parents! You Marxist!!! Nonetheless, I am finally heartened 
> to learn that you would willingly and happily agree to pay a higher 
> tuition for your child to attend the same school as a lower-income 
> family would have to pay. Viva la revolucion!
 
Who said anything about "even if it doesn't cover full cost"?   Who said
anything about "wealthy parents should pay more"? A private school could -- 
and in many cases would -- control costs to match income received from 
vouchers. In a free market, a private school could charge parents more than 
the voucher, or less than the voucher and furnish a refund. In the U.S the 
unionized government public school system is so bloated with overhead and 
bureaucratic inefficiencies that vouchers based on current costs per pupil 
will more than pay for well run non-government, non-union school.

What Marxists like Arlo cannot comprehend is the value of the free market. 
"A free market is a Dynamic institution. What people buy and what people 
sell, in other words what people value, can never be contained by any 
intellectual formula. What makes the marketplace work is Dynamic Quality."
(Lila, 17) 

The problem with Marxists is they don't trust people to make quality 
choices. Result: individual liberty, and Dynamic evolution, suffers.